adduser doesn't quite get it

[Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX]

A user added with the adduser command doesn't seem to have as many
privileges as one added from the GUI.  The obvious one is the ability to
use the sound system.  That was the problem with xmms.

Apparently there is some magic information being stored somewhere
than /etc/passwd and /etc/group.

I see Linux tending to store important settings in strange places,
one of the things I hate about Microsoft Windows.

-- 
Chuck Forsberg    caf(a)omen.com   www.omen.com   503-614-0430
Developer of Industrial ZMODEM(Tm) for Embedded Applications
  Omen Technology Inc      "The High Reliability Software"
10255 NW Old Cornelius Pass Portland OR 97231   FAX [phone]

[Jesse Keating]

On Mon, 2008-10-27 at 07:30 -0700, Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX N2469R wrote:
>  A user added with the adduser command doesn't seem to have as
> many
>  privileges as one added from the GUI.  The obvious one is the ability to
>  use the sound system.  That was the problem with xmms. 
Which command line tool did you use to create the user?  IIRC one of
them (luseradd) uses libuser as the backend, which can set the selinux
permissions correctly where as useradd does not.  That could be the key
missing thing.  Did you check for selinux denials?

-- 
Jesse Keating
Fedora -- Freedom² is a feature!
identi.ca: http://identi.ca/jkeating

[Michal Jaegermann]

On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 09:52:42AM -0700, Jesse Keating wrote:
>  On Mon, 2008-10-27 at 07:30 -0700, Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX N2469R
> wrote:
>  > A user added with the adduser command doesn't seem to have as many
>  > privileges as one added from the GUI.  The obvious one is the ability to
>  > use the sound system.  That was the problem with xmms.
>  
>  Which command line tool did you use to create the user?  IIRC one of
>  them (luseradd) uses libuser as the backend, which can set the selinux
>  permissions correctly where as useradd does not. 
In such situation should not be useradd "fronted" by a shell script
which uses luseradd when possible and "the real useradd", with a
possible warning, in the remaining cases?  Unfortunately there is
no one-to-one mapping in options.  As a matter of fact only useradd
mentions something selinux related (option '--selinux-user').

Before anybody will ask - adduser and useradd this is the same
thing.

   Michal

[John Summerfield]

Michal Jaegermann wrote:
>  On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 09:52:42AM -0700, Jesse Keating wrote:
> > On Mon, 2008-10-27 at 07:30 -0700, Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX N2469R wrote:
> >> A user added with the adduser command doesn't seem to have as many
> >> privileges as one added from the GUI.  The obvious one is the ability to
> >> use the sound system.  That was the problem with xmms.
> > Which command line tool did you use to create the user?  IIRC one of
> > them (luseradd) uses libuser as the backend, which can set the selinux
> > permissions correctly where as useradd does not.
>   
There's also the point that adduser does what you tell it, and that's 
not to add the user to lots of groups unless rootuser specifies 
otherwise, while another tool might add users to groups that fit well 
the the distro's philosophy. In the former case, sound might not while 
in the latter it works well.

>  Before anybody will ask - adduser and useradd this is the same
>  thing. 
It is in RedHattish systems, but not so in others.

-- 

Cheers
John

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[Zenko Klapko Jr.]

Yes, I thought as a command line tool adduser is the barebones command
to add users to a system. Checking the main page one can find the
options for adding/changing a default group and additional groups.

I also remember a limitation of 16 groups for some software
applications. I'm not sure if that is still in effect or not.

-Zenko

On 10/27/08, John Summerfield <debian(a)herakles.homelinux.org&gt; wrote:
>  Michal Jaegermann wrote:
> > On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 09:52:42AM -0700, Jesse Keating wrote:
> >> On Mon, 2008-10-27 at 07:30 -0700, Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX N2469R wrote:
> >>> A user added with the adduser command doesn't seem to have as many
> >>> privileges as one added from the GUI.  The obvious one is the ability to
> >>> use the sound system.  That was the problem with xmms.
> >> Which command line tool did you use to create the user?  IIRC one of
> >> them (luseradd) uses libuser as the backend, which can set the selinux
> >> permissions correctly where as useradd does not.
> >
>
>  There's also the point that adduser does what you tell it, and that's
>  not to add the user to lots of groups unless rootuser specifies
>  otherwise, while another tool might add users to groups that fit well
>  the the distro's philosophy. In the former case, sound might not while
>  in the latter it works well.
>
> > Before anybody will ask - adduser and useradd this is the same
> > thing.
>
>  It is in RedHattish systems, but not so in others.
>
>  --
>
>  Cheers
>  John
>
>  -- spambait
>  1aaaaaaa(a)coco.merseine.nu  Z1aaaaaaa(a)coco.merseine.nu
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>  http://webfoot.com/advice/email.top.php
>  http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
>
>  You cannot reply off-list:-)
>
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